ABSTRACT
Upheaval characterizes many areas of mid-to-late eighteenth century European life. It was not only a time for self-conscious new beginnings, but also a time for recovering (and at times inventing) origins of all kinds-whether the original human language, the state of nature, or the geography of the antediluvian Earth. Events and scientifi c discoveries reinforced the sense of signifi cant beginnings and endings into a form of millenialist self-importance. Examples include the eruption of the American and French Revolutions and resulting experimentation in nation building; the growing age of exploration and naval discovery; the dawn of the microscope and drastic improvement of the telescope, revealing new worlds both far away and close at hand; and the discovery of the ashen, fi ery fates of Pompeii and Herculaneum; as well as the more immediate devastation resulting from the Lisbon earthquake of 1757. It was a time of optimism in widening human achievements and utopian fantasies, as well as sullen reminders of the fragility of peace, innocence, and even civilization itself.
